The subject condition as a PF effect: evidence from Greek

Abstract

This article examines the lack of Subject Condition violations in null subject languages (and, most prominently, Greek). It is argued that the CED cannot provide an adequate account of Subject Condition effects and their lack in the aforementioned languages, as it faces both theoretical and empirical problems. The multiple spell-out account of Uriagereka (1999) and Nunes & Uriagereka (2000), as well as accounts based on Wexler & Culicover’s (1980) freezing principle, are also shown to face a number of problems. It is proposed that Subject Condition effects are due to a prohibition on multiple phase-internal movement. Modifying Nunes’s (1999, 2004) proposal, I argue for a Restriction on Copy Reduction principle, which bans the PF-silencing of more than one movement copies of a single element within the lifespan of a syntactic phase. It is shown that this principle follows as soon as we assume that the notion ‘chain’ has no place in a derivational model. It is shown that the Restriction on Copy Reduction accounts for the Subject Condition and its lack thereof in null subject languages. It also captures a number of effects subsumed under the freezing principle.